piers

Some interesting very old jokes from a member of the aristocracy here. On a more contemporary basis coastal settings have massive potential in terms of their liminal character which appeals to all sorts of creative and not just in big towns like Hastings. I think targeted arts and design investment in key rural coastal towns could open up a power new front on the agenda. This article inspired these thoughts by telling us:

‘This pier,” said the Earl of Granville, when he opened Hastings Pier in 1872, “appears to me to be a peerless pier – a pier without a peer – except, perhaps, the unfortunate peer who is now addressing you.” Now, 145 years on, after a chequered life of spectacular fires and reincarnations of mixed success, Hastings Pier has once again been declared peerless – as the winner of the 2017 RIBA Stirling prize for the best building in the UK.

The structure is a far cry from the elaborate confection that impressed the Earl, a classic piece of seaside Victoriana designed by pier supremo Eugenius Birch, encrusted with twinkling lights and crowned with a Moorish pavilion. Instead, visitors to the seaside town are greeted by a stark wooden deck thrust out over the sea. Nicknamed The Plank, it eschews the usual kiss-me-quick seaside clutter (plenty of which can be found further along the beach), in favour of a neutral platform to host a range of different activities. Well supplied with electricity and other services, it is a blank canvas for the lively programme of bouncy castles, carousels and concerts. When not in festive mode, it is a powerful expanse, a place that is free to enter where you can hover above the water, inhale the sea air and take in the epic views.

Hastings Pier is the work of London-based architects de Rijke Marsh Morgan, who have been shortlisted for the Stirling on two previous occasions: in 2010 for a colourful primary school in Clapham, London, and last year for a housing scheme in the controversial redevelopment of the Heygate Estate in the borough of Southwark. In Hastings, they have thankfully shown a greater sensitivity to the local community.